Mugaritz puts on his cape for Berkeley Handicap

It’s Northern California’s equine Superman against the world in Saturday’s Grade 3 Berkeley Handicap at Golden Gate Fields.

Mugaritz has won all four of his starts this year and five straight overall, including stakes in his last two outs. He’s 4 for 6 with one second over the track, and that second came in last year’s California Derby. And, he’s coming off the highest Beyer Speed Figure of his career, a 91 earned for a victory in the Joseph T. Grace over the Golden Gate turf on Nov. 2.

Mugaritz will need his best again in the Berkeley, a 1 1/16-mile Tapeta race for 3-year-olds and up that drew a field of 11, including millionaire Ashleyluvssugar; Ohio, who won the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile; and graded winners Grecian Fire, Majestic Eagle, Brave Nation, and What a View.

“He’s special,” said Mugaritz’s trainer, Jonathan Wong, who leads the Golden Gate standings.

Last year at 3, Mugaritz finished fourth in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate in February and fifth in the Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway in March, then went to the sidelines for nine months. He won his comeback in a $50,000 starter allowance last Dec. 31 and has continued winning, on dirt, turf, and Tapeta.

Mugaritz usually races on or within a couple of lengths of the lead. Ricardo Gonzalez had him in front for most of the Joseph Grace and went wire to wire on him in the Bull Dog at Fresno in October. He rides again Saturday.

“Ricky gets along with the horse,” Wong said.

Ohio ships up from Santa Anita having faced much stronger company than Mugaritz. An 8-year-old trained by Michael McCarthy, Ohio has not won since his Kilroe victory at Santa Anita in March, but has not been beaten more than 3 1/2 lengths in Grade 1 and Grade 2 turf races in Southern California. Ohio has never raced at Golden Gate, but showed he can handle synthetic when he rallied for third in the Presque Isle Downs Mile in September.

Camino Del Paraiso was beaten a neck by Mugaritz in the Joseph Grace and now adds blinkers.

Grecian Fire, fourth as the favorite in the Joseph Grace, won the Grade 3 All American on the Tapeta in May and was beaten by only three-quarters of a length in the Grade 2 Del Mar Mile in August.

The sprinter My Friend Emma will be a pace factor from the rail. Turf specialist Souter could be a price play in his main-track debut over a surface that many turf runners love. He tends to run late, and his trainer, Mark Glatt, said, “The pace looks to be very favorable for him.”